WSOP Accused Of Racism
Introduction.
WSOP has more than its fair share of headlines around this time of year, which aren’t always just to do with the poker games. But, a headline they would have rather avoided is being accused of racism! The row erupted when the third Brit this year to win a gold bracelet had the British National Anthem played, a dirge of a tune known as “God save the Queen”. WSOP winners having their national anthem played by the organizers is, of course, nothing new. However, whereas normally this is played by a brass band or even a full orchestra, few would have expected a Rock ‘n Roll version, much less a ‘punk’ one!
God save the Queen – by the Sex Pistols.
John Lyndon of the Sex Pistols - aka Johnny Rotten
Back in the 1970s, British Punk band the Sex Pistols made a recording called ‘God save the Queen’ which had nothing to do with national anthems and was actually quite derogatory towards the British monarchy. Unfortunately, WSOP played that version of ‘God save the Queen’ rather than the official version after John Kabbaj won the gold bracelet in the $10,000 Pot Limit Texas Hold ‘em final. An estimated 20% of the British poker fans in the casino lodged complaints with the WSOP, which even involved the police having to follow up a complaint of racial abuse. WSOP insist this was an error and no slur against Britain or its players was intended. However, the matter has yet to be dropped by the police – so who knows where this could end up?
Back to the poker.
John Kabbaj - just after winning his first WSOP gold bracelet
John won his gold bracelet by beating the well known and experienced Russian, Krill Gerasimov, having earlier also seen off Bryn Kenney. Indeed it was the chip lead he amassed against Kenney that gave him an almost unassailable pot to play with. Not only did john win the gold bracelet but a tidy $633,335 as well. In some respects the fact that a Brit won a pot limit Texas Hold ‘em poker match shouldn’t be that surprising. Pot limit Texas Hold ‘em isn’t a game played an awful lot in the USA and yet it is one of the favorite forms for playing poker in the UK.